Method for implementing feedback control function of aerosol generating apparatus, and aerosol generating apparatus

ABSTRACT

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, an aerosol generating apparatus having a feedback control function includes a heater configured to heat an aerosol generating substrate to generate an aerosol; a controller configured to generate a control signal for controlling power supplied to the heater; a switch configured to perform a switching operation based on the control signal to supply the power to the heater; and a comparison signal calculator configured to receive a signal by the switching operation to calculate a comparison target signal, wherein the controller is further configured to generate a cut-off signal for stopping the switching operation of the switch based on a comparison value calculated by comparing the comparison target signal with a reference signal exceeding a preset range.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to a method of implementing a feedbackcontrol function of an aerosol generating apparatus and an aerosolgenerating apparatus using the method, and more particularly, to amethod capable of generally increasing stability in an operation of anaerosol generating apparatus in which a controller indispensablyincluded in the aerosol generating apparatus receives and uses aresponse signal to a control signal to generate a control signal outputat a next time and the aerosol generating apparatus using the method.

BACKGROUND ART

Recently, there has been a growing demand for alternative methods forresolving problems of common cigarettes. For example, instead of amethod of generating an aerosol by burning a cigarette, there has been agrowing demand for a method of generating an aerosol by heating anaerosol generating material of a cigarette. Therefore, research intoheating-type cigarettes or heating-type aerosol generating apparatusesis being actively conducted.

The aerosol generating apparatus may include a heater for generating anaerosol by generally heating an aerosol generating substrate and aseparate main controller unit (MCU) to control power supplied to theheater. Although the MCU performs a function of controlling the overalloperation of the aerosol generating apparatus according to an internallypredefined logic, a logic lexically defined in the MCU tends to assumethat the operation of the aerosol generating apparatus is performedwithout any defects or malfunctions, which causes a problem in that,when any defects or malfunctions occur a specific component constitutingthe aerosol generating apparatus or complicatedly occur with othercomponents, it is too late or impossible for the MCU to cope withdefects or malfunctions of the specific component constituting theaerosol generating apparatus.

For example, in commercially available aerosol generating apparatuses,even if the user lowers the temperature of the heater through athermostat, the current supplied through a heating wire may notcorrectly flow according to a temperature setting state and maygradually increase, and when the user does not recognize this and leavesthe aerosol generating apparatus without shutting off the power, theaerosol generating apparatus may be damaged by the heat emitted from theheating wire or furthermore a fire may occur.

In addition, the heater of the aerosol generating apparatus includes atemperature sensor that detects the temperature of the heater. Thetemperature sensor may periodically or aperiodically transmit thetemperature value of the heater to the MCU such that the MCU determineswhether the heater is heated. However, when the temperature of theheater does not rise even though the user applies an input to a heatingswitch to heat the heater of the aerosol generating apparatus, there maybe a problem in that the MCU has difficulty in determining whether thetemperature of the heater does not rise due to the disconnection of theheater or, despite the rise in the temperature of the heater, whetherthe rise in the temperature is not detected due to a defect that hasoccurred in the temperature sensor.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Technical Problem

Provided is an aerosol generating apparatus that may quickly cope with amalfunction of the aerosol generating apparatus, through a feedbackcontrol function.

Solution to Problem

According to an aspect of the present disclosure, an aerosol generatingapparatus includes a heater configured to heat an aerosol generatingsubstrate to generate an aerosol; a controller configured to generate acontrol signal for controlling power supplied to the heater; a switchconfigured to perform a switching operation based on the control signalto supply the power to the heater; and a comparison signal calculatorconfigured to receive a signal by the switching operation to calculate acomparison target signal, wherein the controller is further configuredto generate a cut-off signal for stopping the switching operation of theswitch based on a comparison value calculated by comparing thecomparison target signal with a reference signal exceeding a presetrange.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a method ofimplementing a feedback control function of an aerosol generatingapparatus includes generating a control signal for controlling powersupplied to a heater; transmitting the generated control signal to aswitch that performs a switching operation; calculating a comparisontarget signal by receiving a signal by the switching operation, andgenerating a cut-off signal for stopping the switching operation of theswitch based on a comparison value calculated by comparing thecomparison target signal with a reference signal exceeding a presetrange.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a non-transitorycomputer-readable recording medium storing a program for implementingthe method is provided.

Advantageous Effects

According to the present disclosure, a user of an aerosol generatingapparatus may quickly discover a malfunction in the aerosol generatingapparatus and thus, promptly repair it.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1 through 3 are diagrams showing examples in which a cigarette isinserted into an aerosol generating device.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a cigarette.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram schematically showing an example of an aerosolgenerating apparatus according to an embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram schematically showing an example of a comparisonsignal calculator.

FIG. 7 is a diagram of an example of a control signal generated by acontroller.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of a comparison targetsignal.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a method ofimplementing a feedback control function of an aerosol generatingapparatus according to an embodiment.

BEST MODE

According to an aspect of the present disclosure, an aerosol generatingapparatus includes a heater configured to heat an aerosol generatingsubstrate to generate an aerosol; a controller configured to generate acontrol signal for controlling power supplied to the heater; a switchconfigured to perform a switching operation based on the control signalto supply the power to the heater; and a comparison signal calculatorconfigured to receive a signal by the switching operation to calculate acomparison target signal, wherein the controller is further configuredto generate a cut-off signal for stopping the switching operation of theswitch based on a comparison value calculated by comparing thecomparison target signal with a reference signal exceeding a presetrange.

The control signal may be a pulse width modulation (PWM) signal.

The reference signal may be a PWM signal, the comparison target signalmay be a reverse PWM signal, and the comparison value may be calculatedbased on duty ratios of PWM signal and the reverse PWM signal.

The comparison signal calculator may include an RC filter configured toreceive the signal by the switching operation and convert the signalinto a triangular wave signal; and a DC converter configured to convertthe converted triangular wave signal into an analog DC signal, and thecontroller may be further configured to generate the cut-off signalbased on a result of comparing the converted analog DC signal with thereference signal.

The comparison signal calculator may include a voltage output sensorconfigured to detect a temperature of the heater and output a heatervoltage proportional to a resistance value of the heater; and an ADconverter configured to convert the output heater voltage into a digitalvalue, and the controller may be further configured to, based on acomparison value calculated by comparing the converted heater voltagewith a preset voltage value exceeding a preset range, generate thecut-off signal for stopping the switching operation of the switch.

The comparison signal calculator may be an integrator configured toreceive the signal by the switching operation and output an integrationresult signal, and the comparison value may be a duty ratio of theoutput integration result signal with respect to a duty ratio of thecontrol signal.

The preset range may be 0.7 to 1.3.

The switch may be a field effect transistor (FET) configured to performan on/off operation according to the control signal.

The aerosol generating apparatus may further include a regulatorconfigured to maintain an output voltage of the battery as a constant.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a method ofimplementing a feedback control function of an aerosol generatingapparatus includes generating a control signal for controlling powersupplied to a heater; transmitting the generated control signal to aswitch that performs a switching operation; calculating a comparisontarget signal by receiving a signal by the switching operation, andgenerating a cut-off signal for stopping the switching operation of theswitch based on a comparison value calculated by comparing thecomparison target signal with a reference signal exceeding a presetrange.

The control signal may be a pulse width modulation (PWM) signal.

The reference signal may be a PWM signal, the comparison target signalmay be a reverse PWM signal, and the comparison value may be calculatedaccording to duty ratios of PWM signal and the reverse PWM signal.

The calculating the comparison target signal may include converting thesignal by the switching operation into a triangular wave signal byreceiving the signal; and converting the converted triangular wavesignal into an analog DC signal, and the generating the cut-off signalmay include generating the cut-off signal based on a result of comparingthe converted analog DC signal with the reference signal.

The calculating the comparison target signal may include outputting aheater voltage proportional to a resistance value of the heater bydetecting a temperature of the heater; and converting the output heatervoltage into a digital value, and the generating of the cut-off signalmay include, based on a comparison value calculated by comparing theconverted heater voltage with a preset voltage value exceeding a presetrange, generating the cut-off signal for stopping the switchingoperation of the switch.

The calculating the comparison target signal may include receiving thesignal by the switching operation and outputting an integration resultsignal, and the comparison value may be a duty ratio of the outputintegration result signal with respect to a duty ratio of the controlsignal.

The preset range may be 0.7 to 1.3.

The switch may be a field effect transistor (FET) configured to performan on/off operation according to the control signal.

The method may further include maintaining an output voltage of thebattery as a constant.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a non-transitorycomputer-readable recording medium storing a program for implementingthe method is provided.

MODE OF DISCLOSURE

As the present disclosure allows for various changes and numerousembodiments, particular embodiments will be illustrated in the drawingsand described in detail in the written description. The accompanyingdrawings for illustrating the present disclosure are referred to inorder to gain a sufficient understanding, the merits thereof, and theobjectives accomplished by the implementation. However, the presentdisclosure may have different forms and should not be construed as beinglimited to the descriptions set forth herein.

The embodiments of the present disclosure will be described below inmore detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Those elementsthat are the same or are in correspondence are rendered the samereference numeral regardless of the figure number, and redundantexplanations are omitted.

While such terms as “first,” “second,” etc., may be used to describevarious elements, such elements must not be limited to the above terms.The above terms are used only to distinguish one element from another.

An expression used in the singular encompasses the expression of theplural, unless it has a clearly different meaning in the context.

In the present disclosure, it is to be understood that the terms such as“including,” “having,” and “comprising” are intended to indicate theexistence of the features or elements disclosed in the disclosure, andare not intended to preclude the possibility that one or more otherfeatures or elements may exist or may be added.

When a certain embodiment may be implemented differently, a specificprocess order may be performed differently from the described order. Forexample, two consecutively described processes may be performedsubstantially at the same time or performed in an order opposite to thedescribed order.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present disclosure will be described indetail with reference to the drawings.

FIGS. 1 through 3 are diagrams showing examples in which a cigarette isinserted into an aerosol generating device.

Referring to FIG. 1 , the aerosol generating device 10 may include abattery 120, a controller 110, and a heater 130. Referring to FIGS. 2and 3 , the aerosol generating device 10 may further include a vaporizer180. Also, the cigarette 200 may be inserted into an inner space of theaerosol generating device 10.

FIGS. 1 through 3 illustrate components of the aerosol generating device10, which are related to the present embodiment. Therefore, it will beunderstood by one of ordinary skill in the art related to the presentembodiment that other general-purpose components may be further includedin the aerosol generating device 10, in addition to the componentsillustrated in FIGS. 1 through 3 .

Also, FIGS. 2 and 3 illustrate that the aerosol generating device 10includes the heater 130. However, according to necessity, the heater 130may be omitted.

FIG. 1 illustrates that the battery 120, the controller 110, and theheater 1300 are arranged in series. Also, FIG. 2 illustrates that thebattery 120, the controller 110, the vaporizer 180, and the heater 130are arranged in series. Also, FIG. 3 illustrates that the vaporizer 180and the heater 130 are arranged in parallel. However, the internalstructure of the aerosol generating device 10 is not limited to thestructures illustrated in FIGS. 1 through 3 . In other words, accordingto the design of the aerosol generating device 10, the battery 120, thecontroller 110, the heater 130, and the vaporizer 180 may be differentlyarranged.

When the cigarette 200 is inserted into the aerosol generating device10, the aerosol generating device 10 may operate the heater 130 and/orthe vaporizer 180 to generate an aerosol from the cigarette 200 and/orthe vaporizer 180. The aerosol generated by the heater 130 and/or thevaporizer 180 is delivered to a user by passing through the cigarette200.

According to necessity, even when the cigarette 200 is not inserted intothe aerosol generating device 10, the aerosol generating device 10 mayheat the heater 130.

The battery 120 may supply power to be used for the aerosol generatingdevice 10 to operate. For example, the battery 120 may supply power toheat the heater 130 or the vaporizer 180, and may supply power foroperating the controller 110. Also, the battery 120 may supply power foroperations of a display, a sensor, a motor, etc. mounted in the aerosolgenerating device 10.

The controller 110 may generally control operations of the aerosolgenerating device 10. Specifically, the controller 110 may control notonly operations of the battery 120, the heater 130, and the vaporizer180, but also operations of other components included in the aerosolgenerating device 10. Also, the controller 110 may check a state of eachof the components of the aerosol generating device 10 to determinewhether or not the aerosol generating device 10 is able to operate.

The controller 110 may include at least one processor. A processor maybe implemented as an array of a plurality of logic gates or may beimplemented as a combination of a general-purpose microprocessor and amemory in which a program executable in the microprocessor may bestored. It will be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art thatthe processor may be implemented in other forms of hardware.

The heater 130 may be heated by the power supplied from the battery 120.For example, when the cigarette 200 is inserted into the aerosolgenerating device 10, the heater 130 may be located outside thecigarette 200. Thus, the heated heater 130 may increase the temperatureof an aerosol generating material in the cigarette 200.

The heater 130 may include an electro-resistive heater. For example, theheater 130 may include an electrically conductive track, and the heater130 may be heated when currents flow through the electrically conductivetrack. However, the heater 130 is not limited to the example describedabove and may include all heaters which may be heated to a desiredtemperature. Here, the desired temperature may be pre-set in the aerosolgenerating device 10 or may be set as a temperature desired by a user.

As another example, the heater 130 may include an induction heater.Specifically, the heater 130 may include an electrically conductive coilfor heating a cigarette in an induction heating method, and thecigarette may include a susceptor which may be heated by the inductionheater.

For example, the heater 130 may include a tube-type heating element, aplate-type heating element, a needle-type heating element, or a rod-typeheating element, and may heat the inside or the outside of the cigarette200, according to the shape of the heating element.

Also, the aerosol generating device 10 may include a plurality ofheaters 130. Here, the plurality of heaters 130 may be inserted into thecigarette 200 or may be arranged outside the cigarette 200. Also, someof the plurality of heaters 130 may be inserted into the cigarette 200and the others may be arranged outside the cigarette 200. In addition,the shape of the heater 130 is not limited to the shapes illustrated inFIGS. 1 through 3 and may include various shapes.

The vaporizer 180 may generate an aerosol by heating a liquidcomposition and the generated aerosol may pass through the cigarette 200to be delivered to a user. In other words, the aerosol generated via thevaporizer 180 may move along an air flow passage of the aerosolgenerating device 10 and the air flow passage may be configured suchthat the aerosol generated via the vaporizer 180 passes through thecigarette 200 to be delivered to the user.

For example, the vaporizer 180 may include a liquid storage, a liquiddelivery element, and a heating element, but it is not limited thereto.For example, the liquid storage, the liquid delivery element, and theheating element may be included in the aerosol generating device 10 asindependent modules.

The liquid storage may store a liquid composition. For example, theliquid composition may be a liquid including a tobacco-containingmaterial having a volatile tobacco flavor component, or a liquidincluding a non-tobacco material. The liquid storage may be formed to bedetachable from the vaporizer 180 or may be formed integrally with thevaporizer 180.

For example, the liquid composition may include water, a solvent,ethanol, plant extract, spices, flavorings, or a vitamin mixture. Thespices may include menthol, peppermint, spearmint oil, and variousfruit-flavored ingredients, but are not limited thereto. The flavoringsmay include ingredients capable of providing various flavors or tastesto a user. Vitamin mixtures may be a mixture of at least one of vitaminA, vitamin B, vitamin C, and vitamin E, but are not limited thereto.Also, the liquid composition may include an aerosol forming substance,such as glycerin and propylene glycol.

The liquid delivery element may deliver the liquid composition of theliquid storage to the heating element. For example, the liquid deliveryelement may be a wick such as cotton fiber, ceramic fiber, glass fiber,or porous ceramic, but is not limited thereto.

The heating element is an element for heating the liquid compositiondelivered by the liquid delivery element. For example, the heatingelement may be a metal heating wire, a metal hot plate, a ceramicheater, or the like, but is not limited thereto. In addition, theheating element may include a conductive filament such as nichrome wireand may be positioned as being wound around the liquid delivery element.The heating element may be heated by a current supply and may transferheat to the liquid composition in contact with the heating element,thereby heating the liquid composition. As a result, aerosol may begenerated.

For example, the vaporizer 180 may be referred to as a cartomizer or anatomizer, but it is not limited thereto.

The aerosol generating device 10 may further include general-purposecomponents in addition to the battery 120, the controller 110, theheater 130, and the vaporizer 180. For example, the aerosol generatingdevice 10 may include a display capable of outputting visual informationand/or a motor for outputting haptic information. Also, the aerosolgenerating device 10 may include at least one sensor (a puff detectingsensor, a temperature detecting sensor, a cigarette insertion detectingsensor, etc.). Also, the aerosol generating device 10 may be formed as astructure where, even when the cigarette 200 is inserted into theaerosol generating device 10, external air may be introduced or internalair may be discharged.

Although not illustrated in FIGS. 1 through 3 , the aerosol generatingdevice 10 and an additional cradle may form together a system. Forexample, the cradle may be used to charge the battery 120 of the aerosolgenerating device 10. Alternatively, the heater 130 may be heated whenthe cradle and the aerosol generating device 10 are coupled to eachother.

The cigarette 200 may be similar as a general combustive cigarette. Forexample, the cigarette 200 may be divided into a first portion includingan aerosol generating material and a second portion including a filter,etc. Alternatively, the second portion of the cigarette 200 may alsoinclude an aerosol generating material. For example, an aerosolgenerating material made in the form of granules or capsules may beinserted into the second portion.

The entire first portion may be inserted into the aerosol generatingdevice 10, and the second portion may be exposed to the outside.Alternatively, only a portion of the first portion may be inserted intothe aerosol generating device 10, or the entire first portion and aportion of the second portion may be inserted into the aerosolgenerating device 10. The user may puff aerosol while holding the secondportion by the mouth of the user. In this case, the aerosol is generatedby the external air passing through the first portion, and the generatedaerosol passes through the second portion and is delivered to the user'smouth.

For example, the external air may flow into at least one air passageformed in the aerosol generating device 10. For example, the opening andclosing and/or a size of the air passage formed in the aerosolgenerating device 10 may be adjusted by the user. Accordingly, theamount of smoke and a smoking satisfaction may be adjusted by the user.As another example, the external air may flow into the cigarette 200through at least one hole formed in a surface of the cigarette 200.

Hereinafter, an example of the cigarette 200 will be described withreference to FIG. 4 .

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a cigarette.

Referring to FIG. 4 , the cigarette 200 may include a tobacco rod 210and a filter rod 220. The first portion 210 described above withreference to FIGS. 1 through 3 may include the tobacco rod, and thesecond portion 220 may include the filter rod 220.

FIG. 4 illustrates that the filter rod 220 includes a single segment.However, the filter rod 220 is not limited thereto. In other words, thefilter rod 220 may include a plurality of segments. For example, thefilter rod 220 may include a first segment configured to cool an aerosoland a second segment configured to filter a certain component includedin the aerosol. Also, according to necessity, the filter rod 220 mayfurther include at least one segment configured to perform otherfunctions.

The cigarette 200 may be packaged via at least one wrapper 240. Thewrapper 240 may have at least one hole through which external air may beintroduced or internal air may be discharged. For example, the cigarette200 may be packaged via one wrapper 240. As another example, thecigarette 200 may be double-packaged via at least two wrappers 240. Forexample, the tobacco rod 210 may be packaged via a first wrapper, andthe filter rod 220 may be packaged via a second wrapper. Also, thetobacco rod 210 and the filter rod 220, which are respectively packagedvia separate wrappers, may be coupled to each other, and the entirecigarette 200 may be packaged via a third wrapper. When each of thetobacco rod 210 and the filter rod 220 includes a plurality of segments,each segment may be packaged via a separate wrapper. Also, the entirecigarette 200 including the plurality of segments, which arerespectively packaged via the separate wrappers and which are coupled toeach other, may be re-packaged via another wrapper.

The tobacco rod 210 may include an aerosol generating material. Forexample, the aerosol generating material may include at least one ofglycerin, propylene glycol, ethylene glycol, dipropylene glycol,diethylene glycol, triethylene glycol, tetraethylene glycol, and oleylalcohol, but it is not limited thereto. Also, the tobacco rod 210 mayinclude other additives, such as flavors, a wetting agent, and/ororganic acid. Also, the tobacco rod 210 may include a flavored liquid,such as menthol or a moisturizer, which is injected to the tobacco rod210.

The tobacco rod 210 may be manufactured in various forms. For example,the tobacco rod 210 may be formed as a sheet or a strand. Also, thetobacco rod 210 may be formed as a pipe tobacco, which is formed of tinybits cut from a tobacco sheet. Also, the tobacco rod 210 may besurrounded by a heat conductive material. For example, theheat-conducting material may be, but is not limited to, a metal foilsuch as aluminum foil. For example, the heat conductive materialsurrounding the tobacco rod 210 may uniformly distribute heattransmitted to the tobacco rod 210, and thus, the heat conductivityapplied to the tobacco rod may be increased and taste of the tobacco maybe improved. Also, the heat conductive material surrounding the tobaccorod 210 may function as a susceptor heated by the induction heater.Here, although not illustrated in the drawings, the tobacco rod 210 mayfurther include an additional susceptor, in addition to the heatconductive material surrounding the tobacco rod 210.

The filter rod 220 may include a cellulose acetate filter. Also, theshapes of the filter rod 220 are not limited hereto. For example, thefilter rod 220 may include a cylinder-type rod or a tube-type rod havinga hollow inside. Also, the filter rod 220 may include a recess-type rod.When the filter rod 220 includes a plurality of segments, at least oneof the plurality of segments may have a different shape.

The filter rod 220 may be formed to generate flavors. For example, aflavoring liquid may be injected into the filter rod 220, or anadditional fiber coated with a flavoring liquid may be inserted into thefilter rod 220.

Also, the filter rod 220 may include at least one capsule 230. Here, thecapsule 230 may generate a flavor or an aerosol. For example, thecapsule 230 may have a configuration in which a liquid containing aflavoring material is wrapped with a film. For example, the capsule 230may have a spherical or cylindrical shape, but is not limited thereto.

When the filter rod 220 includes a segment configured to cool theaerosol, the cooling segment may include a polymer material or abiodegradable polymer material. For example, the cooling segment mayinclude pure polylactic acid alone, but the material for forming thecooling segment is not limited thereto. In some embodiments, the coolingsegment may include a cellulose acetate filter having a plurality ofholes. However, the cooling segment is not limited to theabove-described example and is not limited as long as the coolingsegment cools the aerosol.

Although not illustrated in FIG. 4 , the cigarette 200 according to anembodiment may further include a front-end filter. The front-end filtermay be located on a side of the tobacco rod 210, the side facing thefilter rod 220. The front-end filter may prevent the tobacco rod 210from being detached outwards and prevent a liquefied aerosol fromflowing into the aerosol generating device 10 (FIGS. 1 through 3 ) fromthe tobacco rod 210, during smoking.

FIG. 5 is a diagram schematically showing a block diagram of an exampleof an aerosol generating apparatus 10 according to an embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 5 , the aerosol generating apparatus 10 according tothe present disclosure may include the controller 110, the battery 120,the heater 130, a pulse width modulation processor 140, a display 150, amotor 160, a storage device 170, a switch 185, and a comparison signalcalculator 190.

For convenience of description, the general functions of the respectiveelements included in the aerosol generating apparatus 10 will bedescribed first, and the operation of the controller 110 according to anembodiment will be described in detail.

The controller 110 may collectively control the battery 120, the heater130, the pulse width modulation processor 140, the display 150, themotor 160, the storage device 170, the switch 185, and the comparisonsignal calculator 190 included in the aerosol generating apparatus 10.Although not shown in FIG. 5 , according to an embodiment, thecontroller 110 may further include an input receiver (not shown) thatreceives a button input or a touch input of a user and a communicator(not shown) that communicates with an external communication device suchas a user terminal. In addition, although not shown in FIG. 5 , thecontroller 110 may further include a module for performing proportionalintegral differential (PID) control on the heater 130.

The battery 120 may supply power to the heater 130, and the magnitude ofthe power supplied to the heater 130 may be adjusted by a control signaloutput from the controller 110. According to an embodiment, a regulatormay be included between the controller 110 and the battery 120 tomaintain a constant voltage of the battery 120.

The heater 130 may generate heat by an intrinsic resistance when acurrent is applied. When an aerosol generating substrate contacts(couples to) the heated heater 130, an aerosol may be generated.

The pulse width modulation processor 140 may allow the controller 110 tocontrol the power supplied to the heater 130 through a method oftransmitting a PWM (pulse width modulation) signal to the heater 130.According to an embodiment, the PWM processor 140 may be implemented ina manner in which the PWM processor 140 is included in the controller110, and the PWM signal output from the PWM processor 140 may be adigital PWM signal.

The display 150 may visually output various alarm messages generated bythe aerosol generating apparatus 10 such that a user who uses theaerosol generating apparatus 10 may confirm the alarm messages. The usermay confirm a battery power shortage message or an overheat warningmessage of the heater 130 output on the display 150 and take appropriatemeasures before an operation of the aerosol generating apparatus 10stops or the aerosol generating apparatus 10 is damaged.

The motor 160 may be driven by the controller 110 to allow the user toperceive through the tactile sense that the aerosol generating apparatus10 is ready for use.

The storage device 170 may store various information for the controller110 to appropriately control the power supplied to the heater 130 and toprovide various flavors to the user who uses the aerosol generatingapparatus 10. The storage device 170 may not only be configured as anonvolatile memory like a flash memory, but also as a volatile memorythat temporarily stores data only when electrically connected in orderto secure a faster data input/output (I/O) speed.

The switch 185 may perform switching operation such that the controlsignal (the PWM signal) generated by the controller 110 or the pulsewidth modulation processor 140 is transmitted to the heater 130. As anexample, power is supplied to the heater 130 when the switch 185 is on,and the power supplied to the heater 130 may be stopped when the switch185 is off. The switching operation of the switch 185 may include notonly an on-off operation of connecting or disconnecting the heater 130,but also an operation of contacting at least three terminals atdifferent time points to constitute an open circuit or a closed circuit.Although not shown in FIG. 5 , according to an embodiment, the switch185 may further include a signal reverser that reverses a signalreceived from the controller 110 or the pulse width modulation processor140. In addition, the switch 185 may be a field effect transistor (FET)that performs the on/off operation according to the control signal.

When the control signal generated from the controller 110 or the pulsewidth modulation processor 140 reaches the switch 185, the comparisonsignal calculator 190 receives a signal according to the switchingoperation of the switch 185 and calculates and transmits a comparisontarget signal to the controller 110. The controller 110 may receive thecomparison target signal and store information stored in the comparisontarget signal as time series information in the storage device 170.According to an embodiment, the comparison signal calculator 190 may beimplemented by being included in the controller 110.

The controller 110, the pulse width modulation processor 140 and thecomparison signal calculator 190 according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure may correspond to at least one or more processors ormay include at least one or more processors. Accordingly, the controller110, the pulse width modulation processor 140, and the comparison signalcalculator 190 may be driven by being included in another hardwaredevice such as a microprocessor or a general purpose computer system.

Hereinafter, the operation of the aerosol generating apparatus 10 willbe described for each embodiment.

As an alternative embodiment, when a comparison value calculated bycomparing the comparison target signal with a reference signal exceeds apreset range, the controller 110 may generate a cut-off signal forstopping the switching operation of the switch 185.

First, the controller 110 receives the comparison target signal from thecomparison signal calculator 190. The comparison target signal receivedby the controller 110 is a feedback signal with respect to the controlsignal transmitted from the controller 110 or the pulse width modulationprocessor 140 and includes information necessary for the controller 110to control each element included in the aerosol generating apparatus 10.

Here, the reference signal refers to information of a signal which isset in advance in the controller 110 or previously stored in the storagedevice 170 in order to be compared with the comparison target signal,and may be a control signal with respect to a time point correspondingto the comparison target signal. For example, when the controller 110outputs the control signal at a time point t1, calculates the comparisontarget signal at a time point t2, and receives the comparison targetsignal at a time point t3, the reference signal may be the controlsignal at the time point t1.

The comparison value means a specific value calculated by the controller110 by comparing the comparison target signal with the reference signal,and may be various values including the difference value of theamplitude of the comparison target signal and the reference signal, thedifference value of frequency, the difference value of a duty ratio,etc. The preset range is defined as a value experimentally determined asinformation previously stored in the controller 110 or the storagedevice 170.

In an alternative embodiment, when the comparison value exceeds thepreset range, the controller 110 may generate the cut-off signal for theswitch 185 to control the switch 185 to stop the switching operation.Here, the cut-off signal may refer to a signal for turning off theswitch 185 to cut off power applied from the battery 120 to the heater130.

As another alternative embodiment, the comparison target signal may be areverse pulse width modulation signal. According to the presentalternative embodiment, the controller 110 may compare a duty ratio ofthe pulse width modulation signal which is the control signal with thereverse pulse width modulation signal which is the comparison targetsignal, calculate the comparison value, and when the comparison valueexceeds the preset range, the controller 110 may generate the cut-offsignal. A further description of the reverse pulse width modulationsignal will be described later with reference to FIGS. 7 and 8 .

FIG. 6 is a diagram schematically showing an example of the comparisonsignal calculator 190.

Referring to FIG. 6 , the comparison signal calculator 190 may includean RC filter 210, a DC converter 230, a voltage output sensor 250, an ADconverter 270, and an integration processor 290. According to anexample, in the comparison signal calculator 190, at least one of the RCfilter 210, the DC converter 230, the voltage output sensor 250, the ADconverter 270, and the integral processor 290 may be omitted.

The RC filter 210 includes an RC circuit including a resistor and acapacitor, receives a signal by a switching operation of the switch 185and converts the signal into a triangular wave. At this time, the signalby the switching operation of the switch 185 may be a digital PWMsignal. In addition, an arrangement of the resistor and the capacitorincluded in the RC filter 210 may be configured as at least two or morecapacitors as a predetermined arrangement. As an example, the RC filter210 may include a CRC filter having one resistor connected in seriesbetween two capacitors having one pole grounded.

The DC converter 230 converts the triangular wave signal converted bythe RC filter 210 into an analog DC signal. The analog DC signalconverted by the DC converter 230 is transmitted to the controller 110as a comparison target signal. The controller 110 may calculate acomparison value by comparing the converted analog DC signal with areference signal, and when the comparison value exceeds a preset range,generate a cut-off signal.

The voltage output sensor 250 may detect the temperature of a heater andoutput a heater voltage proportional to the resistance value of theheater. The voltage output sensor 250 first identifies the resistancevalue of the heater by detecting the temperature of the heater.R(T)=R ₀[1+a(T−T ₀)]  [Equation 1]

Equation 1 is an example of an equation used by the voltage outputsensor 250 to detect the temperature of the heater and identify theresistance value of the heater. In Equation 1, R(T) denotes theresistance of the heater at a temperature T, R₀ denotes an initialheater resistance, T denotes the current temperature of the heater, T₀denotes the initial temperature of the heater, a denotes the temperaturecoefficient of the heater. When the voltage output sensor 250 detectsthe temperature of the heater to identify the resistance of the heater,the voltage output sensor 250 outputs a voltage of the magnitudeproportional to the resistance value.

The AD converter 270 converts the analog voltage of the heater outputfrom the voltage output sensor 250 into a digital value. The controller110 calculates a comparison value by comparing the digital voltage ofthe heater output from the AD converter 270 with a preset voltage value,when the comparison value exceeds a preset range, stops the switchingoperation of the switch 185, and generates a cut-off signal. At thistime, the digital voltage of the heater output from the AD converter 270is a comparison target signal, and the predetermined voltage value is areference signal.

The integration processor 290 receives the voltage signal as an inputand outputs an integration result signal of the voltage signal. Here,the signal received by the integration processor 290 may be a signalaccording to the switching operation of the switch 185. When the voltagesignal received by the integration processor 290 is a PWM signal asshown in FIG. 7 , the integration result signal is a voltage signal inthe form of a triangular wave corresponding to the PWM signal. Thecontroller 110 may calculate the duty ratio of the integration resultsignal with respect to the duty ratio of the control signal as thecomparison value, and generate the cut-off signal when the comparisonvalue exceeds the preset range.

FIG. 7 is a diagram of an example of a control signal generated by thecontroller 110.

Referring to FIG. 7 , the control signal may be a PWM signal and has aconstant duty ratio.

$\begin{matrix}{V_{eff} = {\sqrt{\frac{1}{T_{2} - T_{1}}{\int_{T_{1}}^{T_{2}}\left\lbrack {\left( {V(t)} \right\rbrack^{2}{dt}} \right.}} = {\frac{V_{B}}{10}\sqrt{D}}}} & \left\lbrack {{Equation}2} \right\rbrack\end{matrix}$

Equation 2 defines an effective voltage V_(eff) of the battery 120. InEquation 2, V_(B) denotes a battery voltage, and T₁ and T₂ denotespecific time points which are different from each other on the timeaxis. As shown in Equation 2, the effective voltage V_(eff) between T1and T2 may be maintained constantly by adjusting the duty ratio D evenwhen the battery voltage V_(B) drops.

$\begin{matrix}{{D(\%)} = {\frac{T_{3} - T_{2}}{T_{2} - T_{1}} \times 100}} & \left\lbrack {{Equation}3} \right\rbrack\end{matrix}$

Equation 3 defines the duty ratio. The duty ratio refers to a ratio ofthe time that a current flows in a specific device or module withrespect to the sum of the time that the current flows and the time thatno current flows when the current is supplied to the device or themodule in the form of a periodic pulse. According to an embodiment, theduty ratio may be defined for the voltage as well as the current. InEquation 3, T₁ 710 denotes a time point when a control signal forcontrolling the heater 130 is transmitted to the heater 130, T₂ 730denotes a time point when one cycle of the control signal ends, and T₃750 denotes a time point when the current (voltage) in the controlsignal of the form of pulse is supplied to the heater 130 and then cutoff.

The control signal is generated to keep the battery voltage V_(B) at aconstant for a predetermined period (T2−T1) according to the duty ratiocalculated by the controller 110.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of a comparison targetsignal.

The comparison target signal of FIG. 8 means a signal in which the pulsewidth modulation signal described with reference to FIG. 7 is reversedby passing through the switch 185 or the comparison signal calculator190. The duty ratio according to Equation 3 may also be applied to thereversed signal, and when the duty ratio of a control signal is 50% andthe comparison target signal is fed back by the control signal andtransmitted to the controller 110, the duty ratio of the comparisontarget signal and the duty ratio of the control signal are the same. Thecontroller 110 calculates a difference between the duty ratios of thecontrol signal and the comparison target signal as a comparison value,and generates a cut-off signal when the calculated comparison valueexceeds a preset range.

As an example, the comparison value calculated by the controller 110 maybe the duty ratio of the comparison target signal with respect to theduty ratio of the control signal.

$\begin{matrix}{C = \frac{D_{2}}{D_{1}}} & \left\lbrack {{Equation}4} \right\rbrack\end{matrix}$

Equation 4 shows an example of an equation used by the controller 110 tocalculate the comparison value. In Equation 4, C denotes the comparisonvalue, D₁ denotes the duty ratio of the control signal, and D₂ denotesthe duty ratio of the comparison target signal. Equation 4 is an exampleof an equation that may be used by the controller 110 to calculate thecomparison value, and thus, according to an embodiment, the controller110 may compare the comparison value based on a different equation fromEquation 4 and determine whether to generate the cut-off signal based onthe calculated comparison value.

After calculating the comparison value, the controller 110 may determinewhether the comparison value exceeds a preset range. The preset rangemay be 0.7 to 1.3. According to a preferred embodiment, the controller110 may determine whether the comparison value exceeds 0.8 to 1.2 todetermine whether to generate the cut-off signal.

In particular, according to the embodiment in which the comparisonsignal calculator 190 of FIG. 6 includes the integration processor 290,the integration processor 290 may apply a preset range to generate anintegration result signal, and the integration result signal may have anerror by the preset range with respect to the control signal. Thecontroller 110 may receive the integration result signal, determinewhether the integration result signal has the error by the preset rangewith respect to the control signal, and determine whether to generatethe cut-off signal.

As described above, when the comparison signal calculator 190 is anintegrator including the integration processor 290 according to anembodiment of the present disclosure, the comparison signal calculator190 may accurately detect the disconnection of the heater 130 of theaerosol generating apparatus 10. For example, even though a user appliesan input to the heater heating button of the aerosol generatingapparatus 10 to inhale an aerosol, when the temperature of the heater130 does not change, the heater 130 may be disconnected or thetemperature sensor of the heater 130 may be broken. At this time, thecontroller 110 may receive an integration result signal as a result oftransmitting the control signal to the integrator, calculate acomparison value according to the duty ratios of the control signal andthe integration result signal according to Equation 4 and then determinewhether the comparison value exceeds the preset range, and when thecomparison value does not exceed the preset range, determine that theheater 130 is not disconnected. When the comparison value exceeds thepreset range, the controller 110 may determine that the heater 130 isdisconnected and transmit the cut-off signal, thereby preventingunnecessary switching of the switch 185 and minimizing the waste ofpower in the battery 120.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a method ofimplementing a feedback control function of the aerosol generatingapparatus 10 according to an embodiment.

The method according to FIG. 9 may be implemented by the aerosolgenerating apparatus 10 according to FIG. 5 , and thus the method willbe described with reference to FIG. 5 , and the description alreadydescribed with reference to FIG. 5 will be omitted below.

The controller 110 generates a control signal for controlling the powerof a battery (S910).

The controller 110 transmits the control signal generated in operationS910 to the switch 185 (S920).

The comparison signal calculator 190 receives a signal according to theswitching operation of the switch 185 and calculates a comparison targetsignal (S930). Here, the signal according to the switching operationmeans the latter when the control signal is identified as a signal(which means values of T₁ 710 to T₃ 750 in FIG. 7 ) for supplying powerto a heater according to the on/off operation of the switch 185 or asignal indicating a voltage of 0 according to characteristics of a PWMsignal (which means values of T₃ 750 to T₂ 730 in FIG. 7 ), and theswitch 185 calculates a signal as in FIG. 8 through a signal reverserand transmits the signal to the comparison signal calculator 190.

The controller 110 calculates a comparison value by comparing thecomparison target signal with a reference signal (S940).

The controller 110 determines whether the comparison value calculated inoperation S940 exceeds a preset range (S950).

When it is determined in operation S950 that the comparison valueexceeds the preset range, the controller 110 may generate a cut-offsignal for stopping the switching operation of the switch 185 andtransmit the cut-off signal to the switch 185 (S960). According to anembodiment, in operation S960, the switch 185 may be a FET.

According to the present disclosure, by digitally processing a controlsignal output from a heat-type aerosol generating apparatus that isessentially accompanied by a heater using a feedback function, a momentwhen a high voltage is instantaneously input may be accuratelydetermined, and thus various components constituting the aerosolgenerating apparatus may be protected.

In addition, the aerosol generating apparatus according to the presentdisclosure may control various signals through a feedback control methodwith an integrator circuit embedded therein, thereby accuratelydetermining whether a heater is disconnected or a temperature sensorprovided in the heater is broken.

Embodiments according to the present disclosure described above may beimplemented in the form of a computer program that may be executedthrough various elements on a computer, and such a computer program maybe recorded in a computer-readable medium. In this regard, examples ofthe medium may include magnetic media such as a hard disk, a floppydisk, and magnetic tape, optical media such as compact disk read onlymemory (CD-ROM) and digital versatile disk (DVD), magneto-optical mediasuch as a floptical disk, and a hardware device especially configured tostore and execute a program command, such as read only memory (ROM),random access memory (RAM) and flash memory, etc.

Meanwhile, the computer program may be a program command speciallydesigned and configured for the present disclosure or a program commandknown to be used by those of skill in the art of the computer softwarefield. Further, examples of the program commands include machinelanguage code created by a compiler and high-level language codeexecutable by a computer using an interpreter.

The particular implementations shown and described in the presentdisclosure are illustrative examples and are not intended to otherwiselimit the scope of the present disclosure in any way. For the sake ofbrevity, conventional electronics, control systems, software developmentand other functional aspects of the systems may not be described indetail. Furthermore, the connecting lines, or connectors shown in thevarious figures presented are intended to represent exemplary functionalrelationships and/or physical or logical couplings between the variouselements. It should be noted that many alternative or additionalfunctional relationships, physical connections or logical connectionsmay be present in a practical device. Moreover, no item or component isessential to the practice of the present disclosure unless the elementis specifically described as “essential” or “critical”.

Herein (especially, in the claims), the use of “the” and otherdemonstratives similar thereto may correspond to both a singular formand a plural form. Also, when a range is described in the presentdisclosure, the range has to be regarded as including disclosureadopting any individual element within the range (unless describedotherwise), and it has to be regarded as having written in the detaileddescription each individual element included in the range. Unless theorder of operations of a method according to the present disclosure isexplicitly mentioned or described otherwise, the operations may beperformed in a proper order. The present disclosure is not limited tothe order the operations are mentioned. The use of all examples orexemplary terms (e.g., “etc.,”, “and (or) the like”, and “and so forth”)in the present disclosure is merely intended to describe the embodimentin detail, and the scope of the present disclosure is not necessarilylimited by the examples or exemplary terms unless defined by the claims.Also, one of ordinary skill in the art may appreciate that the presentdisclosure may be configured through various modifications,combinations, and changes according to design conditions and factorswithout departing from the spirit and technical scope of the presentdisclosure and its equivalents.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

An embodiment of the present disclosure may be used to manufacture anelectronic cigarette device including a computing device for supplyingpower to a heater by using a battery.

What is claimed is:
 1. An aerosol generating apparatus having a feedbackcontrol function, the aerosol generating apparatus comprising: a heaterconfigured to heat an aerosol generating substrate to generate anaerosol; a controller configured to generate a control signal forcontrolling power supplied to the heater; a switch configured to performa switching operation based on the control signal to supply the power tothe heater; and a comparison signal calculator configured to receive asignal by the switching operation to calculate a comparison targetsignal, wherein the controller is further configured to generate acut-off signal for stopping the switching operation of the switch basedon a comparison value calculated by comparing the comparison targetsignal with a reference signal exceeding a preset range, wherein thereference signal is the control signal which is output from thecontroller at a first time point, and wherein the comparison targetsignal is a signal output from the comparison signal calculator at asecond time point by switching operation of the switch according to thecontrol signal which is output from the controller at the first timepoint.
 2. The aerosol generating apparatus of claim 1, wherein thecontrol signal is a pulse width modulation (PWM) signal.
 3. The aerosolgenerating apparatus of claim 1, wherein the reference signal is a pulsewidth modulation signal, wherein the comparison target signal is areverse pulse width modulation signal, and wherein the comparison valueis calculated based on duty ratios of pulse width modulation signal andthe reverse pulse width modulation signal.
 4. An aerosol generatingapparatus having a feedback control function, the aerosol generatingapparatus comprising: a heater configured to heat an aerosol generatingsubstrate to generate an aerosol; a controller configured to generate acontrol signal for controlling power supplied to the heater; a switchconfigured to perform a switching operation based on the control signalto supply the power to the heater; and a comparison signal calculatorconfigured to receive a signal by the switching operation to calculate acomparison target signal, wherein the controller is further configuredto generate a cut-off signal for stopping the switching operation of theswitch based on a comparison value calculated by comparing thecomparison target signal with a reference signal exceeding a presetrange, wherein the comparison signal calculator comprises: an RC filterconfigured to receive the signal by the switching operation and convertthe signal into a triangular wave signal; and a DC converter configuredto convert the converted triangular wave signal into an analog DCsignal, and wherein the controller is further configured to generate thecut-off signal based on a result of comparing the converted analog DCsignal with the reference signal.
 5. The aerosol generating apparatus ofclaim 1, wherein the comparison signal calculator comprises: a voltageoutput sensor configured to detect a temperature of the heater andoutput a heater voltage proportional to a resistance value of theheater; and an AD converter configured to convert the output heatervoltage into a digital value, and wherein the controller is furtherconfigured to, based on a comparison value calculated by comparing theconverted heater voltage with a preset voltage value exceeding a presetrange, generate the cut-off signal for stopping the switching operationof the switch.
 6. An aerosol generating apparatus having a feedbackcontrol function, the aerosol generating apparatus comprising: a heaterconfigured to heat an aerosol generating substrate to generate anaerosol; a controller configured to generate a control signal forcontrolling power supplied to the heater; a switch configured to performa switching operation based on the control signal to supply the power tothe heater; and a comparison signal calculator configured to receive asignal by the switching operation to calculate a comparison targetsignal, wherein the controller is further configured to generate acut-off signal for stopping the switching operation of the switch basedon a comparison value calculated by comparing the comparison targetsignal with a reference signal exceeding a preset range, wherein thecomparison signal calculator is an integrator configured to receive thesignal by the switching operation and output an integration resultsignal, and wherein the comparison value is a duty ratio of the outputintegration result signal with respect to a duty ratio of the controlsignal.
 7. The aerosol generating apparatus of claim 6, wherein thepreset range is 0.7 to 1.3.
 8. The aerosol generating apparatus of claim1, wherein the switch is a field effect transistor (FET) configured toperform an on/off operation according to the control signal.
 9. Theaerosol generating apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a regulatorconfigured to maintain an output voltage of the battery as a constant.10. A method of implementing a feedback control function of an aerosolgenerating apparatus, the method comprising: generating a control signalfor controlling power supplied to a heater; transmitting the generatedcontrol signal to a switch that performs a switching operation;calculating a comparison target signal by receiving a signal by theswitching operation, and generating a cut-off signal for stopping theswitching operation of the switch based on a comparison value calculatedby comparing the comparison target signal with a reference signalexceeding a preset range, wherein the reference signal is the controlsignal which is output from a controller at a first time point, andwherein the comparison target signal is a signal output from acomparison signal calculator at a second time point by switchingoperation of the switch according to the control signal which is outputfrom the controller at the first time point.
 11. The method of claim 10,wherein the control signal is a pulse width modulation (PWM) signal. 12.The method of claim 10, wherein the reference signal is a pulse widthmodulation signal, wherein the comparison target signal is a reversepulse width modulation signal, and wherein the comparison value iscalculated by duty ratios of pulse width modulation signal and thereverse pulse width modulation signal.
 13. A method of implementing afeedback control function of an aerosol generating apparatus, the methodcomprising: generating a control signal for controlling power suppliedto a heater; transmitting the generated control signal to a switch thatperforms a switching operation; calculating a comparison target signalby receiving a signal by the switching operation, and generating acut-off signal for stopping the switching operation of the switch basedon a comparison value calculated by comparing the comparison targetsignal with a reference signal exceeding a preset range, wherein thecalculating of the comparison target signal comprises: converting thesignal by the switching operation into a triangular wave signal byreceiving the signal; and converting the converted triangular wavesignal into an analog DC signal, and wherein the generating the cut-offsignal comprises generating the cut-off signal based on a result ofcomparing the converted analog DC signal with the reference signal. 14.The method of claim 10, wherein the calculating of the comparison targetsignal comprises: outputting a heater voltage proportional to aresistance value of the heater by detecting a temperature of the heater;and converting the output heater voltage into a digital value, andwherein the generating the cut-off signal comprises, based on acomparison value calculated by comparing the converted heater voltagewith a preset voltage value exceeding a preset range, generating thecut-off signal for stopping the switching operation of the switch. 15.The method of claim 10, wherein the calculating of the comparison targetsignal comprises: receiving the signal by the switching operation andoutputting an integration result signal, and wherein the comparisonvalue is a duty ratio of the output integration result signal withrespect to a duty ratio of the control signal.
 16. The method of claim10, wherein the preset range is 0.7 to 1.3.
 17. The method of claim 10,wherein the switch is a field effect transistor (FET) configured toperform an on/off operation according to the control signal.
 18. Themethod of claim 10, further comprising maintaining an output voltage ofthe battery as a constant.
 19. A non-transitory computer-readablerecording medium storing a program for implementing the method of claim10.